Andorra
'Basics' The Principality of Andorra is a landlocked microstate in Southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees and bordered by Spain and France. Andorra remains one of the most expensive places in Europe to use a mobile phone, both for buying a local SIM card and for roaming with a SIM card from outside Andorra. You should limit your data usage until you reach a different area in France or Spain at much better rates. EU roaming Be aware that Andorra is not '''part of the EU, nor the EEA, where from June 2017 new international roaming rules are enforced. So roaming rates are '''not capped or regulated in Andorra and can be much higher. European providers treat Andorra very differently: only few charge the same as within the EU zone, but most will add a substantial surcharge for usage while roaming in Andorra. Better check your EU/EEA provider first before use, connect to a French/Spanish provider where possible, or buy a local SIM card instead. Fortunately these high costs can often be avoided because Spanish or French antennas cover a major part of the country. Therefore, like always in border areas covered by multiple networks, be sure to prevent roaming by making a manual network selection. Down in the valley, 3G/4G reception from Spain or France is so not good. If you stay for longer, you might consider buying a local SIM card in spite of the high costs or look for one of the few cheap roaming options before. Andorra Telecom Andorra Telecom is the only network provider in this small country. The state owned company was formerly called Servei de Telecomunicacions d'Andorra (STA) a.k.a. Som. It has 2G on 900 and 1800 MHz and 3G/UMTS on 2100 MHz like in most of Europe. 4G/LTE is on 1800 MHz and 800 MHz (bands 3 and 20), but not yet open for prepaid. 'Mobiland Clic!' Their prepaid product is called Mobiland Clic! You can purchase a SIM card from the Andorra Telecom head office at Av. Merixell 112 in Andorra la Vella or its distributors. Mini-SIMs (2FF), micro-SIMs (3FF), and nano-SIMs (4FF) are available. A SIM card normally costs a whopping 30 € including the same credit that stays valid for 5 months. There is currently a promotion where the kit only costs 15 € including the same credit valid for 2 months. When credit is used up, card stays valid for another 8 months incoming only. Top-ups can be done with vouchers for 15 €, 30 € or 60 € valid for 2, 5 or 7 months respectively available in stores. Check credit by calling 178 for free. 'Data feature packages' There is no data without packages which have to be activated by sending a SMS. To check the remaining data credit, send a free empty SMS to 123. These bundles are sold (tax included): 'More information' *APN: internetand *Website (partly in English, change at top right): http://www.andorratelecom.ad/ Roaming options from foreign providers As Andorra is not a member of the EU/EEA states, it's excluded from the common "roam like at home" roaming zone of almost all European providers. This means that roaming data on the only network Andorra Telecom is charged at excessive rates. You should try to avoid any connection with Andorra Telecom by choosing a Spanish provider instead. But coverage down in the valley may be quiety weak and unstable on Spanish 3G and 4G/LTE networks. Roaming with Spanish providers According to this article of Xatakamóvil Spanish providers charge excessive rates between 3.63 € per MB up to 18.15 € per MB. The only exception is Movistar that charges generous 9 € for 3 GB on a daily basis for contract customers only, not for prepaid. For all Spanish Orange SIMs like the Mundo SIM you can activate their "Everywhere" option in your clients area, by app or texting "EW" to 22095. This gives you 100 MB per calendar day at 7 € in Andorra. Roaming with French providers The situation is slightly better with French providers thanks to Orange again: Andorra is included within the EU zone of French Orange SIM cards and charged at the domestic French rate. This applies to prepaid SIM cards like Orange Holiday or Mobicarte as well as contracts like these of Sosh. Roaming with other foreign providers Most other EU providers now exclude Andorra from their discounted roaming zone as they need to buy allowances on the Andorra Telecom monopoly network at much higher rates. If you stay for short, disable data roaming or try to connect to a Spanish provider; if you stay for longer, buy a local SIM. These few EU providers offer Andorra roaming under Roam like at home conditions at domestic prices: * Orange, France * Vodafone, Netherlands * Ay Yildiz, GermanyCategory:Europe Category:Country Category:8/18